MEMU trains sans toilet facility
Satinder Pal Singh
Dera Bassi, April 30
With the Indian Railways working round the clock to improve sanitation facilities for commuters to ensure that stench might be a thing of the past. However, there is an ironic twist to the tale as there are still no toilets in Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) passenger trains.
At the time when the Centre is advocating the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” across the country, train number 74991, which runs from Ambala Cantonment to Amb Andaura in Una district (HP) via Lalru, Dappar, Mubarikpur (Ghaggar) has no facility of toilets for passengers.
The absence of toilet facility in the train leads to serious inconvenience to passengers, including a large number of women, who travel on a daily basis.
The stoppage time of the train at the stations on the way is very less, which makes it impossible for the passengers to use public convenience in the intervening time.
Sheela Rani, a woman passenger, said: “It was shocking to find no toilet in the train. I along with several other women commuters have complained to the Railways authorities, but to no avail.”
Some of the passengers at the Ghaggar (Mubarikpur) railway station near Dera Bassi pointed out that they faced great difficulty because of the absence of toilets.
The sources said the train starts from Ambala Cantonment at 2.20 pm and reaches Mubarikpur (Ghaggar) near Dera Bassi at 3.08 pm and halts for a short time at Dhulkot, Lalru, Dappar (Ghaggar). The only halt where passenger can use the toilet facility is at the Chandigarh Railway Station, where the train stops for about 30 minutes, before it starts its journey again for Andaura, and reaches there at 7:45 pm.
Similarly, train number 74992 starts its journey at 6 am from Amb Andaura (HP) and reaches at the Mubarikpur (Ghaggar) railway station near Dera Bassi at 11.44 am, the sources said.
During these brief halts, no passenger can use toilet facilities at any of these railway stations because the halt is too brief, except Chandigarh. Hundreds of passengers travelling by this train have to face great hardship in view of the basic facility of toilets. The train has been plying on this route for several years and has six bogies.
Venod Sharma and Jagtar Singh, both passengers, pointed out that it was strange that while other trains had the provision of toilets, this MEMU train runs without the toilet facility.
Kuldip Singh, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, said the train was quite old. It was manufactured before 2009 and was only meant for the semi-urban and rural areas. This MEMU train halts at Chandigarh about 30 minutes so the need for toilet was not felt.
